HISTORY

Written History of the War

Canadian and American views on the War of 1812 have always had their own slant based on the source material, but the timing of that material also had an impact on the view of the war.

American histories of the war began even before it was over, starting with a serialized history published in 1814 in the Weekly Register, a Baltimore based newspaper. The first Canadian history of the war was published in book form 1832: A History of the Late War Between Great Britain and the United States by David Thompson.

Publication of histories in the United States about the War of 1812 peaked just before the American Civil War, while Canadian publications peaked around World War I. Significant works published before 1912:

US:

• Historical Sketch of the Second War Between the United States of America, and Great Britain: Events of 1814, Charles Jared Ingersoll, 1849.
• Pictorial Field-Book of The War of 1812, Benson J. Lossing, 1869.

Canada:

• History of the War of 1812 between Great Britain and the United States of America, James Hannay, 1905
• 1812: The War and Its Moral; A Canadian Chronicle, William Coffin, 1864
• The Canadian Brothers, Or, The Prophecy Fulfilled: A Tale of the Late American War, Major John Richardson, 1840.